Since many of us are interested in a healthy start to the New Year, I thought I’d re-share one of my favorite winter salads. Not only is it healthy, but it’s also simple and delicious. Enjoy! 🙂

In the mood for something healthy and delicious? Well, I have just the thing for a nutritious and flavorful meal: kale, butternut squash, pears, dried fruit, nuts, and goat cheese–just add your favorite dressing. Some of you may not be big fans of kale, but it is really quite good, especially when combined with all the other ingredients in this salad. Farmguy doesn’t love kale, but he LOVED this dish. Love it or not, kale is considered one of the healthiest and most nutritious plant foods in existence: great source of vitamins and minerals, can help lower cholesterol, contains powerful antioxidants, loaded with medicinal properties, and an excellent source of vitamin C (1 cup of kale has more vitamin C than a whole orange). So, I hope you will give kale a try and consider this winter chopped salad. I promise….it’s worth it. Enjoy!

Tonya, I like that you include butternut squash! This is such a fantastic salad with plenty of zest and flavor. I like when I have had kale “slaw” or baby kale. When kale is large and chewy, I am less likely to take much on my plate.
A different kind of kale. . .When my daughter puts olive oil in a drizzle over kale on a baking sheet with a little sea salt on it, put in the oven and the texture of these “chips” becomes almost melt in your mouth. I don’t “get” how it transforms but it becomes like frail light crunches in your mouth! 🙂

Thanks so much, George. You’re funny! “When mixed with other flavors I really don’t taste it.” I know what you mean. I really wouldn’t want to eat a bowl of just kale, either. However, with the different flavors and textures of this salad, the kale doesn’t stand out. I hope you’ll like it! 🙂

My name is Tonya, and I grew up on a 300-acre farm in rural Virginia that has been in my family for over 100 years. After graduating from college, receiving my master’s degree in speech and language pathology, and living and working in a small city for six years, I decided to return to the place of my childhood. Here, in this rural area, on this patch of green, where for four generations my family has farmed, gardened, and lived, I, too wanted to be a part of this continuity. As a fourth generation farmgirl, I have many interests that not only include, but also go beyond the basics of farming, gardening, sheep and chicken-keeping. It is all of this and more that I plan on sharing in this blog.